OCTOBER SURPRISE: NY Times reports Trump may have avoided taxes for 18 years

Donald J. Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns, a tax deduction so substantial it could have allowed him to legally avoid paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years, records obtained by The New York Times show.

The 1995 tax records, never before disclosed, reveal the extraordinary tax benefits that Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, derived from the financial wreckage he left behind in the early 1990s through mismanagement of three Atlantic City casinos, his ill-fated foray into the airline business and his ill-timed purchase of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.

Tax experts hired by The Times to analyze Mr. Trump’s 1995 records said tax rules that are especially advantageous to wealthy filers would have allowed Mr. Trump to use his $916 million loss to cancel out an equivalent amount of taxable income over an 18-year period.

Reaction has been swift:

https://twitter.com/gdebenedetti/status/782387438954094592

The irony of this is that a $1 billion loss in 1995 doesn’t really aid Trump’s debate claim that he didn’t pay taxes because he was smart.

— Philip Bump (@pbump) October 2, 2016

This is your federal adjusted gross income: -915,729,293 pic.twitter.com/BVBagK8Dry

— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) October 2, 2016

So now we know why he won't disclose-Trump Tax Records Reveal He Avoided Paying Taxes for 20 years via @nytimes https://t.co/Pw7nSMza45

— Randi Weingarten 🇺🇦🇺🇸💪🏿👩‍🎓 (@rweingarten) October 2, 2016

BOMBSHELL: Trump's returns show just how lousy a businessman he is AND how long he may have avoided paying any taxeshttps://t.co/M4SGm7eKRL

— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) October 2, 2016

Pretty damning stuff from @nytimes. https://t.co/k6taUyl9Sk

— Janet Johnson (@JJohnsonLaw) October 2, 2016

Summary: Donald
– Pays himself $45m/year
– Stock plunges from $35 to 17¢/share
– Takes $1 billion loss
– Never pays income tax again. https://t.co/Riice2jEIJ

— Mark Elliott (@markmobility) October 2, 2016

https://twitter.com/ezlusztig/status/782391761486307328

https://twitter.com/JessicaValenti/status/782390995371646976

Deadbeat Donald paid no taxes for 18 years. Unhinged, untruthful, untaxed unqualified and unelectable. https://t.co/IfpNpwE4Ou

— Robert Shrum (@BobShrum) October 2, 2016

Here’s the question:

OK, so @realDonaldTrump declared a nearly BILLION $ LOSS and his supporters want him to manage our economy? https://t.co/WfI7ydM7aZ

— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) October 2, 2016

And a hashtag is now trending:

https://twitter.com/goldietaylor/status/782406721943789568

#LastTimeTrumpPaidTaxes Hillary was in Beijing telling the world "women's rights are human rights."

— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) October 2, 2016

The Clinton campaign released a statement overnight:

There it is. This bombshell report reveals the colossal nature of Donald Trump’s past business failures and just how long he may have avoided paying any federal income taxes whatsoever. In one year, Donald Trump lost nearly a billion dollars. A billion. He stiffed small businesses, laid off workers, and walked away from hardworking communities. And how did it work out for him? He apparently got to avoid paying taxes for nearly two decades — while tens of millions of working families paid theirs. He calls that ‘smart.’ Now that the gig is up, why doesn’t he go ahead and release his returns to show us all how ‘smart’ he really is?